Everyone has their daily routine. Roll out of bed, put the coffee on, choose the wardrobe for the day, eat breakfast, find your keys and rush out the door to work. Our team here a PALO has its workday regimen, too. And, of course, since every job role and home situation is different, so are the routines.
What do our routines look like? Good question. We’ve decided to have some fun and peel back the curtain a little by sharing a glimpse of how some of our team member spend their days. We hope it gives you a little insight into how we work, how we collaborate on developing winning marketing solutions, and how much fun we have in the process.
This blog will focus on a “Day in the Life” of Jon, PALO Creative’s Marketing Director. Come along with us, as we run through Jon’s routine and roles during his typical workday.
7:15 AM: He’s up and at ‘em. Jon hops in the shower, puts on his favorite button-up, and slicks his hair to the side with his holy grail hair product: Fructis Leave-In Conditioner.
7:45 AM: Jonno is now on his 5-minute commute to work. After the serenade of Ed Sheeran at the breakfast table, he tunes into some fantasy football news during his short drive.
8:00 AM: PALO Creative’s Marketing Director is officially through the door. First things first – if he doesn’t have his favorite energy drink (Mountain Dew Rise), he’ll make himself a cup of black coffee, no cream, no sugar. He’s all business.
8:15 AM: After getting himself organized at his desk, Jon hops onto Slack (our internal communication tool) to say good morning to everyone on the Team PALO channel. He’ll also take this time to check his emails and messages to see what needs his attention. He typically has a good idea of what he’ll be working on for the day and will often “eat the frog” by getting started with his biggest task. On days when he does not have a huge project to attend to, Jon will start with a small task to get his momentum going.
9:00 AM: Each Tuesday and Thursday morning, Jon attends a stand-up call with the Digital Marketing team and account managers. This meeting consists of progress check-ins, asking questions and prioritizing tasks as a team.
9:30 AM: After the meeting, Jon’s momentum for the day starts off strong. He practically lives in Google Analytics, which he looks at in the morning and monitors regularly throughout the day. As our Marketing Director, Jon loves looking at data, especially for our e-commerce clients. In Google Analytics, he checks client accounts for conversions, anomalies or any other changes in the data overnight. He’s always searching for impact and readjustments that could be made.
10:00 AM: We’ve now entered the prime time slot when Jonno is getting things done. The way he sees it, the more you get done in the morning, the more chance there is to ask questions and make tweaks in the afternoon. Completing tasks such as SEO implementations or ad campaign set-ups in the morning allows Jon to evaluate the adjusted data in the afternoon.
12:45 PM: He’s back in the office, and he’s got yet another cup of coffee or a can of his energy drink to get him amped up for the rest of the day and out of the trance of his lunch break.
1:30 PM: Around this time, Jon’s getting back into his meetings for the day. He’ll usually spend about 15 minutes beforehand prepping his notes and getting into a meeting mindset. One thing about working for an agency is that you jump around to so many different industries among all your clients, so it’s important to be in the right headspace for each meeting.
2:00 PM: Jon hops on to a meeting with a client or an internal meeting about a client. In these calls, Jon talks about the performance of ad campaigns to see what insights his team is observing and analytics to focus on. If the meeting is with a client, it’s often more reporting-based, where they talk about all things data, including progress updates and approaches and changes that they’re implementing. Jon may also offer suggestions for retargeting, cover timelines for projects and discuss any other relevant information relating to a client’s digital marketing strategy. To Jon, the most important aspect of working together is communication, and he always tries to be available for everyone. In his words, “lack of communication is the root of almost any issue that occurs.”
3:00 PM: Meetings are ending, and Jon spends some time afterward digesting everything that was covered. After he’s done collecting his thoughts and ideas from the meeting, it’s time to check on ad campaigns and other projects he started in the morning. He’ll hop into this data again and see how adjustments in aspects such as targeting and budgeting are performing to get a sense of the initial trends of the campaign.
5:30 PM: Jonno finishes his day by following up on messages and tasks that need his review, as well as answering emails and messages from the rest of the team. Before leaving, he takes a look at what the next day will bring in terms of responsibilities and sets himself up for success. After working hard for the rest of the workday, Jon finally gets home and puts his electronics away for a while to catch up with his family.
6:00 PM: It’s time for dinner with the family! Jon and Emily regularly switch up the cooking duties, and Maddie always enjoys whatever is on her plate. Her favorite meals are meat and potatoes or pasta.
For the rest of the night, Jon enjoys catching up on articles and evolving research in the marketing industry. He stays updated on new work, trends and approaches of thought leaders and big companies in the field. As he scrolls through the Internet, he’s also on the lookout for advertisements on his own digital platforms. Jon takes this time to analyze what other marketers are putting out and looking at this media through the mind of the consumer.
This “day in the life” is just one look at how an average day might look for Jon, but one of his favorite things about working in digital marketing at an agency is that his routine looks different each day. He could be working on social media ads one day, an audit for SEO, or even a search or display campaign.
“The nice thing about working at an agency is yes we have deadlines, but we have to prioritize them ourselves. You get to choose your own adventure and organize your day to get everything done. It keeps things exciting!”